Legal poppy cultivation in Iran; Ali Hashemi: Pezeshkian is pursuing the plan

Ali Hashemi, the former secretary-general of the Islamic Republic's Drug Control Headquarters, said in an interview with the state news agency ISNA on Monday, 19 October 2026, that the Islamic Republic's officials are seeking to resume poppy cultivation "legally" in Iran, and that Masoud Pezeshkian, who chairs the Drug Control Headquarters, has made the plan a priority.

According to Hashemi, the plan's regulations have been approved and its implementation is under way; the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad is drafting and will supervise the cultivation rules, and coordination with the Food and Drug Organization is also planned. He said groups from the private sector have also declared their readiness to take part in cultivation, and that the aim is to supply raw materials for the medicines the country needs, not to open the way to smuggling or to normalise consumption.

Background of the plan and Masoud Pezeshkian's role

Hashemi said that in 2004, when Pezeshkian was health minister in Mohammad Khatami's government and a member of the Drug Control Headquarters, efforts were made to meet the country's need for opium legally, and a policy to that effect was approved, which stalled after that government. According to him, poppy cultivation was halted after the 1979 revolution, and the plan has been left idle for about 20 years. He described "large distribution, supply and smuggling networks" as the main obstacle, and recalled an estimate from 2016 that put the turnover of Iran's drug market at around 37 to 38 billion dollars; a figure that is now about a decade old and whose method of calculation is unclear.

Unanswered questions about oversight

The Islamic Republic's officials have not yet said how this cultivation will be supervised, how much cultivation will be permitted, or how the crop will be kept out of the illegal market. The experience of other countries shows that licensing alone does not prevent diversion of the product, and that full control over production, distribution and consumption is essential. Hashemi's own claim about the infiltration of smuggling networks into parts of the government's structure has also so far gone unanswered by any official; a claim that makes the question of oversight all the more serious.

The plan comes as the Food and Drug Organization reports a shortage of raw materials and foreign currency to address the drug shortage, and hospitals are facing shortages of medicine and equipment.

The former secretary-general of the Drug Control Headquarters says the regulations for legal poppy cultivation have been approved and implementation is under way.